Haut Brion

Tasting Notes:
The estateÕs second wine, the 2004 Bahans-Haut-Brion, possesses a similar character, but is lighter and softer than the Haut Brion, with notes of red and black currants, plum, and earth. Consume it over the next decade. The Wine Advocate #171 Jun-07.
Parker Points: 88
Drinking Period: 2007-2017

Tasting Notes:
The four finest second wines (wines made from declassified first-growth cuvees) I have ever tasted are the 1982 and 1990 Forts de Latour, 1989 Bahans-Haut-Brion, and 1995 Pavillon de Chateau Margaux. I am amazed by just how delicious the 1989 Bahans-Haut-Brion continues to be. Although it is approaching full maturity, it reveals no signs of amber. The 1989 is a textbook Graves in its sweet, blackcurrant, tobacco, roasted herb-scented nose. Medium to full-bodied, with succulent texture, rich, fleshy flavors, and low acidity, it is a pure, beautifully made wine. It should continue to drink well for 5-8 years. Both the 1989 and 1990 Bahans-Haut-Brion represented splendid bargains when they were released. I suspect quantities still exist in the marketplace. Wine Advocate # 109 Feb 1997
Parker Points: 90
Drinking Period: 1997-2005

Tasting Notes:
The 2005 Haut-Brion is another wine that has put on weight over the last year. While I still believe the 1989 is the great classic, it is difficult not to admire the architectural structure and seriousness of this extraordinarily elegant effort. A blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon (which came in around 14% natural alcohol), 39% Merlot (over 13% natural alcohol), and 5% Cabernet Franc, only 9,000 cases were produced in this vintage, significantly less than in other great years such as 2000 or 1998. It appears to be a big, bulked-up version of the 1996 or 1995. While almost primordial in its denseness, richness, and body, it retains its elegance and surreal nose of flowers, cherries, pain grille, crushed rocks, flowers, and ripe fruit. Powerful, dense, and in need of a decade of cellaring, this will be a 30 to 40-year Haut-Brion that should end up being a modern day version of the 1955. Although closed at present, it is enormously impressive, and is a treat to taste next to the more flamboyant La Mission Haut-Brion. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2040+. The Wine Advocate #170 Apr-07.
Parker Points: 98
Drinking Period: 2015-2040

Tasting Notes:
The 2005 Haut-Brion is another wine that has put on weight over the last year. While I still believe the 1989 is the great classic, it is difficult not to admire the architectural structure and seriousness of this extraordinarily elegant effort. A blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon (which came in around 14% natural alcohol), 39% Merlot (over 13% natural alcohol), and 5% Cabernet Franc, only 9,000 cases were produced in this vintage, significantly less than in other great years such as 2000 or 1998. It appears to be a big, bulked-up version of the 1996 or 1995. While almost primordial in its denseness, richness, and body, it retains its elegance and surreal nose of flowers, cherries, pain grille, crushed rocks, flowers, and ripe fruit. Powerful, dense, and in need of a decade of cellaring, this will be a 30 to 40-year Haut-Brion that should end up being a modern day version of the 1955. Although closed at present, it is enormously impressive, and is a treat to taste next to the more flamboyant La Mission Haut-Brion. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2040+. The Wine Advocate #170 Apr-07.
Parker Points: 98
Drinking Period: 2015-2040

Tasting Notes:
Another profound effort from Haut-Brion, the 2005 (a 9,000-case blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc) has bulked up to the point that it is fair to compare it to the great successes of 1989, 1990, 1995, 1996, 1998, and 2000. A dark ruby/purple color is followed by a nuanced, noble bouquet of blue and red fruits interwoven with wet stones, unsmoked cigar tobacco, scorched earth, and spring flowers. The wine is full-bodied, pure, and complex as well as exceptionally elegant with laser-like precision. The tannins are still serious and substantial, and in that sense, this is a completely different style of Haut-Brion than the opulent, silky-textured 1989 and 1990. As I have written before, it comes across as an improved, more concentrated and structured version of the 1995 or 1998. Patience will be required for this stunner. Wine Advocate # 176 Apr 2008
Parker Points: 98
Drinking Period: 2017-2040

Tasting Notes:
The dark plum/ruby-hued 2004 Haut-Brion exhibits a noble, discrete, smoky bouquet revealing notions of plum liqueur, black currants, sweet cherries, and subtle earth. In addition to its aromatic complexity, this medium-bodied effort reveals classic elegance and delicacy as well as sweet fruit in the mouth and a long finish. Give this streamlined, civilized wine 2-4 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 20-25 years. It is amazingly similar to Haut-BrionÕs 1999. Robert Parker WIne Advocate
Parker Points: 92
Drinking Period: 2009-2034

Tasting Notes:
The dark plum/ruby-hued 2004 Haut-Brion exhibits a noble, discrete, smoky bouquet revealing notions of plum liqueur, black currants, sweet cherries, and subtle earth. In addition to its aromatic complexity, this medium-bodied effort reveals classic elegance and delicacy as well as sweet fruit in the mouth and a long finish. Give this streamlined, civilized wine 2-4 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 20-25 years. It is amazingly similar to Haut-BrionÕs 1999. The Wine Advocate #171 Jun-07.
Parker Points: 92
Drinking Period: 2009-2034

Tasting Notes:
96 points. This wine has been brilliant on every occasion I have tasted it. More accessible and forward than the 1996, it possesses a saturated ruby/purple color, as well as a beautiful, knock-out set of aromatics, consisting of black fruits, vanillin, spice, and wood-fire smoke. Multidimensional and rich, with layers of ripe fruit, and beautifully integrated tannin and acidity, this medium to full-bodied wine is a graceful, seamless, exceptional Haut-Brion that should drink surprisingly well young. Anticipated maturity: 2000-2030. Robert Parker - The Wine Advocate 2/98.
Parker Points:  -
Drinking Period:  -

Tasting Notes:
100 points. The 1989 is one of a handful of truly profound wines from a vintage that tends to be overrated, save for the Pomerols, a few St.-Emilions, and some overachievers in the Medoc. However, 1989 was an extraordinary success for Jean Delmas, the administrator of Haut-Brion and La Mission-Haut-Brion. The prodigious 1989 Haut-Brion is one of the greatest first-growths I have ever tasted. It has always reminded me of what the 1959 must have tasted like in its youth, but it is even richer and more compelling aromatically. The wine exhibits an opaque ruby/purple color, as well as a sweet nose of jammy fruit, tobacco, spicy oak, minerals, and smoke. Fabulously concentrated, with huge levels of fruit, extract, and glycerin, this wine is nearly viscous because of its thickness and richness. Low acidity gives the wine even more appeal and adds to its precociousness. The wine has not budged in development since it was first bottled, although it has always provided thrilling drinking because of its voluptuous texture. It needs another 5-6 years of bottle age before it will begin to develop Haut-Brion's fabulous fragrance. Expect it to hit its plateau of maturity around 2003-2005 and drink well for 15-25 years. Robert Parker - The Wine Advocate 2/97.
Parker Points: 100
Drinking Period: 2003-2028

Tasting Notes:
This was one of the best showings yet for this wine, which, to my palate and mind, has never lived up to its early potential. In this tasting, the 1982 revealed a healthy dark ruby color with lightening at the edge. Intense, persistent aromas of saddle leather, roasted herbs, scorched earth, and sweet black currant fruit were followed by complex flavors of minerals, spice box, and cedar. Although this medium-bodied, fleshy, ripe, concentrated wine is not a blockbuster, as it unfolds, it reveals layers of flavor in addition to this vineyard's tell-tale complexity. Wine Advocate # 129 Jun 2000
Parker Points: 94
Drinking Period: 2002-2020